09/11/2012

Adventures in Journaling

It's official ... my crafting bucket list just got a little bit shorter! After toying with the idea of dabbling in art journaling for years, I actually rolled up my sleeves gave it a shot. And what a shot it was - a full weekend spent learning from art journaler extraordinaire Pam Garrison.

We played with paints ...

And I got to experiment with some supplies that are not ordinarily part of my art-making repertoire.

The whole process began with a blank sheet of kraft butcher paper, which we doodled on with ink and then covered in bold, fabulous color.

Of course, Pam made it look super easy, as she whipped up a perfectly delightful painting in a matter of minutes.

Then came my favorite part - making the books. Pam gave us a demo of her very cool (and totally achievable) technique for creating hardcover books. Seriously, this was so stinkin' awesome!

After having bound my very own book, I came to the decision that I wanted to bind anything and everything that I own. Who knew that book-binding could be habit-forming?

After our books had been bound, it became apparent how very blank our inner pages were. Pam guided us through her process for building layers of paint, paper, ink, and more to create depth on her pages.

My main goal in decorating my pages was to push myself to explore some unfamiliar territory ... getting out of my creative comfort zone and letting go of the fear of making something that I didn't like. Pam touched on this topic throughout the class, and continually reminded all of us that there was nothing that couldn't be fixed or covered.

She also encouraged us to approach our pages without any specific result in mind - to simply let each step of the process inform the layers that followed. It was so exciting to watch as the splats, streaks, and imperfections of the early steps became the centerpieces of future layers.

It was also really fun to be able to swap scraps and bits with neighboring artists as we built our pages. Paint chips, pattern tissue, doily scraps, washi tape ... they all found a spot in my journal.

Along with her stash of paints, inks, and stencils, Pam also brought a hefty stack of her completed and in-progress journals. They were absolutely amazing!

After spending two full days immersed in art journaling, I walked away with a new-found appreciation for all of the work that goes into crafting an art journal. I also caught the art journaling bug in a big way, and I have a suspicion that the last few blank pages in my journal won't be staying that way for long.